StorADE enables centralized monitoring of most Sun storage products. This article covers StorADE features, how it works, and provides best practice recommendations for its deployment. This article is intended for anyone involved in managing Sun storage devices, from an architectural, deployment, or administration perspective. This article is ideal for a reader seeking introductory technical information on StorADE software.

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The first Sun BluePrints article about the Sun Storage Automated Diagnostic
Environment (StorADE) utility for version 2.2 was published in January of 2004.
Since then, StorADE version 2.3, was released. This article is an updated
version of the original article.

StorADE is a utility that enables centralized monitoring of most Sun storage
product offerings including storage area networks (SANs), as well as
direct-connect devices. This article discusses best practices for deploying the
StorADE 2.3 utility to monitor Sun supported storage devices in the data center.
While detailed StorADE installation and configuration information is provided in
the StorADE documentation that comes with the product, this article provides
StorADE concepts and best practice information in a condensed fashion so you can
quickly assess if StorADE is right for your environment.

This article is intended for anyone involved in managing Sun storage devices,
whether it be from an architectural, deployment, or administrative
perspective.

The following topics are covered in this article:

"Sun StorADE 2.3 Features" on page 2

"How StorADE Works" on page 8

"StorADE Best Practices" on page 10

"StorADE Deployment Worksheets" on page 18

Sun StorADE 2.3 Features

StorADE is a utility provided by Sun that enables centralized monitoring of
most Sun storage product offerings. For a complete listing of supported
products, see TABLE 1.

StorADE uses well-established Solaris Operating System (Solaris OS)
facilities, such as crond and inetd, for operation. StorADE
use and administration is performed using standard browsers such as Netscape
Navigator , Mozilla , or Microsoft Internet Explorer. Refer to the StorADE
release notes for supported versions.

Delivers notification of key events in the following ways (based on
configuration):

Local notification  Events can be communicated to a local
administrator (through email), or to local management software (such as Sun
Management Center, or through scripts to third-party applications).

Storage Automated Diagnostic Environment System Edition

The System Edition version of the StorADE software is bundled with the
Service Provider image. It offers the same features as the unbundled version of
StorADE with added support for monitoring solution racks (StorEdge
39x0/69x0/6320 storage devices).

NOTE

The only way to upgrade this version of the StorADE software is to upgrade
the Service Provider image.

Monitoring Solution Racks With StorADE 2.3

The StorADE 2.3 master can be configured to monitor solution racks by
discovering the rack as an out-of-band device. Multiple solution racks can be
monitored from the same master providing a single pane for local notifications.
Solution racks can be discovered by IP address in the
/etc/deviceIP.conf file, subnet discovery, or added to the masters
monitored devices with the add device function.

Supported Storage Products

Once installed, StorADE monitors the local and remote storage products listed
in TABLE 1.

NOTE

The product list in TABLE 1 is up to date as of the time of publication.
Refer to the StorADE release notes for updates.

TABLE 1 Supported Products

Sun StorEdge products

Sun StorEdge A5000 array (14 slot)

Sun StorEdge A5200 array (22 slot)

Sun StorEdge A3500-FC array

Sun StorEdge T3 array (F/W 1.17 or
greater)

Sun StorEdge T3+ array (F/W 2.0 or
greater)

Sun StorEdge 6120 array

Sun StorEdge FC Tape T9840

Sun StorEdge FC Tape T9840B

Sun Fire V880 server

Sun StorEdge D2 Array

Sun Internal Fibre Channel disks

Sun StorEdge 3310 array

Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array

Sun StorEdge 3900/6900 series

Sun StorEdge 6320 system

Sun StorEdge Solution racks

SAN-type products

Sun StorEdge Network FC Switch-8 and
Switch-16.

Sun StorEdge Network 2-Gbit FC Switch-8, Switch-16 and
Switch-64.

Brocade Silkworm 2400/2800 FC Switch

Brocade Silkworm 3200/3800/12000 FC
Switch

Brocade 3900 32-Port FC Switch

McData ED6064 FC Switch

McData ES3232 FC Switch

McData 4500 2GB 24-Port FC Switch

McData 6140 FC Switch

Inrange FC 9000 Director FC Switch

Host bus adapters

Sun StorEdge PCI FC-100 Host Adapter

Sun StorEdge SBus FC-100 Host Adapter

Sun StorEdge PCI Dual Fibre Channel Host
Adapter

Sun StorEdge 2 Gb FC PCI Single-Channel Network
Adapter

Sun StorEdge 2 Gb FC PCI Dual-Channel Network
Adapter

Sun StorEdge 2 Gb FC cPCI Dual-Channel Network
Adapter

Sun supported FC host bus adapters

Extending StorADE Functionality

You can install and configure StorADE to work in concert with the following
two Sun Products:

Sun Remote Services (SRS) Net Connect  is a collection of system
management services that enables you to self-monitor systems, create performance
and trend reports, and receive automatic notifications. Get information on
obtaining this service from
http://www.sun.com/service/support/srs/netconnect/index.html.

Sun Management Center (SunMC)  is an element management system for
monitoring and managing the Sun environment. The base package of Sun Management
Center is free and provides hardware monitoring. Visit
http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/sunmanagementcenter/
for information on obtaining this product.

StorADE and Sun Net Connect 3.1

StorADE takes advantage of the Sun Net Connect 3.1 service, which provides a
comprehensive web-based customer portal. By installing Sun Net Connect 3.1, you
will have access to the following features:

Self-monitoring  Uses a set of performance gauges that track
Solaris OS system events, and alerts you when system parameters and thresholds
are exceeded based on configurable parameters.

Hardware failure monitoring and notification  Provides monitoring
of key hardware failures on a broad selection of Sun systems based on SPARCtechnology with notification to a pager or email when monitored hardware
components are failing or have failed.

Trend reporting  Collects and graphs data to determine common
system problems and helps you forecast future system needs.

Configuration and patch reporting  Provides a time-based snapshot
of systems within your domain and gives a detailed inventory of system assets
and patch updates, helping you to stay in touch with resources that reside in
your Sun systems. This helps you to identify configurations and patch levels,
perform comparative and change analysis to identify issues, and resolve problems
before they escalate to system failure.

By using the Sun Net Connect 3.1 service with StorADE, storage information
from the StorADE is forwarded to and displayed alongside server information at
the customer service portal.

What is Forwarded From StorADE to Sun?

StorADE forwards the following information to the Sun customer service
portal:

Telemetry data  Includes information about all devices in the
monitoring environment. Telemetry information is comprised of device
instrumentation.

StorADE and Sun Management Center

You can set up StorADE to send alerts to the Sun Management Center (SunMC)
software. Selecting the SunMC Provider enables the StorADE software to send
topology and alert information to a SunMC agent. These alerts are visible from
the SunMC console. The rasagent module must be installed on the SunMC agent to
receive these alerts. This module is included in the StorADE package in the
/opt/SUNWstade/System/SunMC/SUNWesraa.tar.gz file.

For information on enabling and configuring the SunMC Provider refer to the
StorADE 2.3 online help on the following topics: